Fabian Wittmers
@fabianwittmers.bsky.social
Scientist || Marine Biologist
BIOS-SCOPE
Postdoc at Oregon State University in the Giovannoni Lab, working on DOM utilisation in SAR202 bacteria.
Previously: Doctoral Student, single-cell genomics (Worden Lab)
BIOS-SCOPE
Postdoc at Oregon State University in the Giovannoni Lab, working on DOM utilisation in SAR202 bacteria.
Previously: Doctoral Student, single-cell genomics (Worden Lab)
Pinned
Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean
Wittmers et al. show associations of prokaryotes and eukaryotes in the ocean using
single-cell genomics on wild protists. The Marinamargulisbacteria are enigmatic, non-photosynthetic
relatives of cyan...
www.cell.com
"Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean", in @currentbiology.bsky.social. The first paper out of my thesis work. Made possible with support from the BIOS-SCOPE project, funded by @simonsfoundation.org
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
Check out what we were up to during our most recent expedition. Extremely grateful to be part of this adventure 🌊
From Vienna to the Atlantic Ocean: Tracing the deep sea's missing carbon 🌊 🔍
We join microbial oceanographer Gerhard Herndl and his team as they collect samples across the North Atlantic, from icy northern seas to the subtropical waters of the Azores. ⤵️
rudolphina.univie.ac.at/en/ocean-exp...
🧑🔬👩🔬🧪
We join microbial oceanographer Gerhard Herndl and his team as they collect samples across the North Atlantic, from icy northern seas to the subtropical waters of the Azores. ⤵️
rudolphina.univie.ac.at/en/ocean-exp...
🧑🔬👩🔬🧪
September 8, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Check out what we were up to during our most recent expedition. Extremely grateful to be part of this adventure 🌊
Some interesting work on vitamin B1 production in marine OMZ led by Kristin Bergauer at @geomarkiel.bsky.social just came out! I got to contribute some bioinformatics analysis to round it out. I think the final result is quite an interesting paper:
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
Dark ocean archaeal and bacterial chemoautotrophs drive vitamin B1 production in oxygen minimum zones
Abstract. Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is essential for all cells, yet many marine microbes cannot synthesize B1 de novo. Dissolved thiamine and its related chemi
academic.oup.com
July 9, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Some interesting work on vitamin B1 production in marine OMZ led by Kristin Bergauer at @geomarkiel.bsky.social just came out! I got to contribute some bioinformatics analysis to round it out. I think the final result is quite an interesting paper:
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
#NewResearch
🚨Out Now
Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors, by @bbaker24.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social and team
#MicroSky #Archaea 🦠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🚨Out Now
Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors, by @bbaker24.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social and team
#MicroSky #Archaea 🦠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors - Nature Microbiology
Phylogenetic reconstructions with conserved protein markers from the 11 known DPANN phyla reveal their monophyletic placement within the Euryarchaeota.
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 1:53 PM
#NewResearch
🚨Out Now
Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors, by @bbaker24.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social and team
#MicroSky #Archaea 🦠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🚨Out Now
Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors, by @bbaker24.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social and team
#MicroSky #Archaea 🦠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
Eukfinder: a pipeline to retrieve microbial eukaryote genome sequences from metagenomic data journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... #jcampubs
April 11, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Eukfinder: a pipeline to retrieve microbial eukaryote genome sequences from metagenomic data journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... #jcampubs
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt
A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry - Nature
The root of the eukaryote Tree of Life is estimated from a new, larger dataset of mitochondrial proteins including all known eukaryotic supergroups, showing it lies between two multi-supergroup assemb...
doi.org
March 14, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt
Happy to see a large chunk of my PhD work published today in Cell Host&Microbe: www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
We conducted fluorescence-activated single-cell sorting of active predatory protists in the ocean and recovered symbionts with cool evolutionary positions close to animal pathogens.
We conducted fluorescence-activated single-cell sorting of active predatory protists in the ocean and recovered symbionts with cool evolutionary positions close to animal pathogens.
February 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Happy to see a large chunk of my PhD work published today in Cell Host&Microbe: www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
We conducted fluorescence-activated single-cell sorting of active predatory protists in the ocean and recovered symbionts with cool evolutionary positions close to animal pathogens.
We conducted fluorescence-activated single-cell sorting of active predatory protists in the ocean and recovered symbionts with cool evolutionary positions close to animal pathogens.
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
the third chapter of my PhD is now published! 🚨 We describe the protist symbiont diversity of the termite species Reticulitermes tibialis. This project was performed in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) which was super fun 😊 #protistsonsky authors.elsevier.com/a/1kaMa56A9x...
February 10, 2025 at 6:33 PM
the third chapter of my PhD is now published! 🚨 We describe the protist symbiont diversity of the termite species Reticulitermes tibialis. This project was performed in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) which was super fun 😊 #protistsonsky authors.elsevier.com/a/1kaMa56A9x...
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
@stevestuwill.bsky.social you posted on 𝕏 on Dec 5, 2020 this stunning video - why not repeat on 🔵bsky ? (sorry, I did)...
"Time-lapse footage of a vampire amoeba: a microscopic organism that feeds on algal cells by breaking through their cell walls and sucking out their insides."
#ProtistsOnSky
"Time-lapse footage of a vampire amoeba: a microscopic organism that feeds on algal cells by breaking through their cell walls and sucking out their insides."
#ProtistsOnSky
February 5, 2025 at 2:56 PM
@stevestuwill.bsky.social you posted on 𝕏 on Dec 5, 2020 this stunning video - why not repeat on 🔵bsky ? (sorry, I did)...
"Time-lapse footage of a vampire amoeba: a microscopic organism that feeds on algal cells by breaking through their cell walls and sucking out their insides."
#ProtistsOnSky
"Time-lapse footage of a vampire amoeba: a microscopic organism that feeds on algal cells by breaking through their cell walls and sucking out their insides."
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Fabian Wittmers
I am looking for an ERC-funded postdoc to work on spatial proteomics of microalgae (red algae and glaucophytes). The ideal candidate will have experience with mass spec and data analysis (R), but above all a keen interest in broad eukaryote evolution and protists #protistsonsky (1/2)
December 10, 2024 at 7:42 AM
I am looking for an ERC-funded postdoc to work on spatial proteomics of microalgae (red algae and glaucophytes). The ideal candidate will have experience with mass spec and data analysis (R), but above all a keen interest in broad eukaryote evolution and protists #protistsonsky (1/2)
"Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean", in @currentbiology.bsky.social. The first paper out of my thesis work. Made possible with support from the BIOS-SCOPE project, funded by @simonsfoundation.org
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean
Wittmers et al. show associations of prokaryotes and eukaryotes in the ocean using
single-cell genomics on wild protists. The Marinamargulisbacteria are enigmatic, non-photosynthetic
relatives of cyan...
www.cell.com
January 31, 2025 at 5:59 PM
"Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean", in @currentbiology.bsky.social. The first paper out of my thesis work. Made possible with support from the BIOS-SCOPE project, funded by @simonsfoundation.org
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...